Karolina Dean
Most people don't recognize Karolina Dean as anything but a regular late teen, unless they maybe followed her parents obsessively in the movies. In reality though, she is a member of the Runaways, aptly named for their habit of always escaping their troubles. Background Karolina was the daughter of two actors in Hollywood well known for their roles in 'General Hospital'. She grew up in Los Angeles, her parents otherwise not permitting her to interact much with outside society. Karolina did not know for much of her life that her parents were actually exiled aliens and members of the secret criminal underworld in California called the Pride. Karolina grew up reading lots of storybooks, and from her time with her parents developed a sense of theatrics and melodramatics from always being around celebrities. But at her core she was a good person, always compassionate and with a strong center of morals. But her parents did not let her interact much with others, so Karolina grew up very isolated and lacking social experiences and with few friends. She went to private school in Los Angeles and did extracurricular activities, once a year going to the 'Conference' held by the adults of the Pride where she would play with the other children. For Karolina, school and fashion were important, and she was always trying to keep ahead of the curve of what was socially conscious. At school, thanks to her parents, Karolina was a popular girl who dabbled in many things - cheerleading, gymnastics, and every fundraiser under the sun. But with her status as a social butterfly she maintained a sense of right and wrong, always standing up for others and helping those in need. She managed to make her first friends over in high school, and was starting to come out of her own shell. Life was fairly stable for her until she was sixteen. That was when she discovered her parents had secrets. During one of the annual conferences of the Pride, Karolina was part of a group of kids who discovered their parents sacrificing an innocent girl to a being called the Gibborim. Horrified, she and the other Pride children staged a breakout and fled to the streets, becoming homeless and informally being a group of Runaways. That was only the first of many painful discoveries for Karolina as she had to adapt to a life of ease taken away and a life built upon lies. Her parents were alien exiles. Karolina discovered her own alien nature while homeless on the streets when she lost her medic alert bracelet, which was actually a device designed to inhibit her alien nature. Discovering she was a Majesdanian, Karolina was also internally confused and coming face to face with her own romantic interests - namely in girls. With the rest of the Runaways she had to fight her own parents, fight their betrayal by Alex, and fight to survive on the streets of LA. Not helped by her own confusion and the continuing gut punches of her life, Karolina was reliant on her friends emotionally to help her keep going. The Runaways would rally together to stop the Pride from conducting a sacrifice to a great alien being, and in doing so they would seemingly die. Now on their own, the Runaways would make their own path and rescue the Leapfrog - a giant robot their parents had kept. Shortly after saving the Leapfrog, the Runaways would encounter Victor Mancha. Fighting to help keep Los Angeles safe from the various small time supercriminals who were popping up and out of the woodwork when the Pride had vanished, the team would encounter Xavin. Most confusingly for Karolina, apparently she was engaged to him! Apparently engaged to Xavin to end a war between the Skrull and the Majesdanians, Karolina was further confused by her own impulses and Xavin's nature. Finally, Karolina would decide to go out into space with Xavin. The choice was to try and end a war and save an entire species, so it was one that Karolina thought was the right one. She would leave the Runaways to go to space with Xavin. But it wouldn't end up being in a fairytale. Their wedding would be attacked, and in the chaotic melee the war would reignite. With the end result being her people being ravaged and scattered, the wedding never taking place, many months later Karolina and Xavin would manage to return to Earth to hide. But things were different now. She was older. She would run with the Runaways for awhile, but soon after she returned to Earth Karolina would try her way at being a real hero. She would join the Avengers Academy to be trained in the use of her powers. Maybe she could try and help others and give back to society. Maybe she could try and stop what happened to her species from happening to Earth. But Avengers Academy was hard for the socially isolated girl. She didn't make many friends, things were regimented, and she couldn't be with Xavin, whom she had actually fallen in love with since Xavin was a Skrull and thus not welcome. As Avengers Academy's gates came to close, Karolina would rejoin her friends in the Runaways and her on-again, off-again girlfriend full time. It was just the way that things were supposed to be. And she was back on the streets, but doing things on her own terms and with her friends. No, her family. After all, they had Run Away together. Personality Karolina Dean is the ever-lasting California girl. She embodies the urban stereotypes of the state to a T. Accepting, perky, alternative, and amazingly extroverted. For Karolina, every bit in life is a Moment that is made to be enjoyed. As far as she is concerned, life is meant to be a Fantasy Novel, and she's the main star of it. Given she's a sparkly star princess, she might not be far off on that! Perky: Some might prefer to use the word upbeat. But given the company she keeps, perky is probably a better word for it. Whenever possible, Karolina tries to look on the bright side of things and enjoy life. It's a party, and she'll cry if she wants to. Cry in joy, that is. She views things incredibly in black and white and glittery, and her laughter can be infectious. She's always trying to be friendly, welcoming, and energetic with everyone she meets. Pacifistic: Karolina doesn't like fighting. She really, really doesn't like fighting. She will use her powers to defend herself and her friends and try and limit damage, but she really doesn't like fighting. Of the Runaways, she is most often the one who will try and talk through things until it's too late or try and accept stories when things have gotten out of hand to try and avoid a blowup. She will often hesitate and overthink things, or presume she went too far. On the battlefield or just out in everyday things. She hasn't had much experience with people, so she can overanalyze things a great deal and when the Runaways are running, she has to rush to catch up, proverbially. Extroverted: Karolina is very extroverted and enthusiastic. This goes with her being perky. But at the same time it's also very much on the outside. Karolina enjoys attention and getting along well with others, but she doesn't have a lot of experience over with others. She doesn't do well when she's alone or she thinks she's upset people, given she spent large segments of her life in just that state. She can be dramatic and leap to conclusions, and rush in with things. Social things can make her dizzy, but she seeks them out all the more. Now having friends, she desperately will do anything to avoid losing them. Compassion and Morals: Karolina always tries to see the best in other people and treats life as very black and white. Never lie, always tell the truth, don't steal, and don't be mean. Even when she was homeless Karolina was extremely compassionate, to others and to her friends. One might wonder how she managed to keep this up when she was in Hollywood. This can make her easy to trick sometimes and she can be taken advantage of by those who are aware of it. She's not always good at reading between the lines of things. Fashion Conscious: Being from Los Angeles, Karolina is extremely fashion conscious and always on top of what is popular to wear at the moment. Even when money is tight she'll be paying attention to what she wants to wear. And what is popular and in the news and trendy for pop culture. Protective: Karolina is very protective of the rest of the Runaways. They are her extended family and friends. Of the group, like Nico Karolina is a maternal figure to them and helps to try and shield the rest of them from the worst things out there. Few things can enrage her faster than someone threatening one of her friends, no matter the circumstances. Lesbian: Karolina is into girls, and is in a tentative relationship with Xavin, a Skrull that she has been engaged to to end the long war of her species. The two do not always get along, and are not always together, but they are very tight knit together as they try and make their relationship work. Logs First Player's Logs *2013-04-29 - Extraterrestrial Trio - Starfire interrupts the alien couple of the Runaways. *2013-04-29 - Alien Dance Night - A normal night in a club in San Francisco, when suddenly some guy decides to pester Karolina and pop some MGH to turn all Vampirey for a short while. *2013-04-30 - Exiles of the Stars - Two Exiles of their destroyed homeworlds meet. Second Player's Logs *2015-04-07 - Molly Hayes, Candy Gangster - So Molly gets a job selling candy, eats eight of them, and gets a different job selling candy, and Leapfrog lands on a Kia. *2015-04-28 - I Was Playing With That - Deathstroke interrupts the Runaways pizza outing. Someone else interrupts their fight. The Runaways interrupt EVERYTHING. *2015-11-07 - Broken Break-In - Nico Minoru and Karolina Dean try to break into their old private school. It would have helped if either of them knew how. *2016-10-31 - Bad Ending - Dracula attacks, on Halloween. Not everyone gets away this time. Gallery Karolina_Dean18.jpg|Karolina, human form, Cover Runaways #3 Karolina_Dean03.jpg|Cover Runaways #10 Karolina Dean01.jpg|Cover Runaways v2 #7 Karolina_Dean09.jpg|Runaways #11 Karolina_Dean16.jpg|from Runaways v2 #27 Karolina_Dean04.jpg|from Runaways v2 #27 Karolina_Dean19.jpg|from Runaways #1 very first picture of her Karolina_Dean02.jpg|Majesdane Form, Human Clothing, Fanart|link=http://scorch-d.deviantart.com/art/Karolina-from-Runaways-94797950 Karolina_Dean07.jpg|from Runaways v2 #26 Karolina_Dean08.jpg|Cover Runaways v3 #9 Karolina_Dean10.jpg|Fanart|link=http://petarsaur.deviantart.com/art/Lucy-in-the-Sky-117920423 Karolina_Dean15.jpg|Fanart|link=http://kaileighblue.deviantart.com/art/Karolina-Deco-53935537 Karolina_Dean14.jpg|from Runaways v2 #25 Karolina_Dean06.jpg|(part of) Cover Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #2 Karolina_Dean17.jpg|from Runaways v2 #27 Karolina_Dean05.jpg|Majesdane Form, Majesdane Clothing, Fanart|link=http://jamiefayx.deviantart.com/art/lucy-in-the-sky-2-125243439 Karolina_Dean13.jpg|from Runaways v2 #19 Karolina_Dean11.jpg|Majesdane Wedding Dress, Cover Runaways v2 #19 Karolina_Dean12.jpg|from Runaways v2 #14 Karolina_Dean20.jpg|from Runaways v2 #16 Karolina+Julie_Power.jpg|First Meeting with Julie Power/Lightspeed from Runaways v2 #3 Karolina+Molly.jpg|Together with Molly Hayes Cover Runaways v2 #5 Karolina+Nico.jpg|Best Friend Nico Minoru, from Runaways v2 #7 Karolina+Nico02.jpg|from Runaways v2 #8 Karolina+Xavin04.jpg|First Meeting with Xavin, from Runaways v2 #8 Karolina+Xavin05.jpg|from Runaways v2 #22 Karolina+Xavin.jpg|from Runaways v2 #29 Karolina+Xavin02.jpg|Cover Runaways v3 #2 Karolina+Xavin03.jpg|from Runaways v2 #30 Category:Marvel Feature Category:Marvel Hero Category:New York City Category:Marvel Available